


Eternity

by Desolace



Category: Sunshine (2007)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, M/M, Spoilers, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 03:51:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2636966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desolace/pseuds/Desolace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU which deals with events that may or may not have taken place at the end of the movie ;-)<br/>I posted this long ago, but decided to put it on my ao3 now, too. So, you can find this on my tumblr (desolace) or my LJ (Piorya) as well :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Capa

As space and time fold together at the end of his journey, Capa couldn’t help feeling sad. They had done it, the payload had worked and the earth would be saved, for now. But what about him? Of course he would die, he knew this in the back of his mind, but, as he thought, when time and space were no longer connected, was death a necessity? He spent an unknown amount of time pondering over this question. Then he decided, that at least he had to move on, standing in the exploding and at the same time the not-yet-exploded and the exploded-long-time-ago payload was no option.

So he closed his eyes and felt a strong tug, pulling him up, grasping at his shoulders. He felt something being left behind, but it was nothing he could name and so he decided that he wouldn’t need it. It seemed like eternity and then again like a second when he felt something hard beneath his feet. The pulling stopped and Capa opened his eyes. He was on the ship again, this was without a doubt the dining room of the Icarus II. It confused him at first, but in the same moment, he felt like this was what he had expected. He wandered around the ship, looking into all corners, into every room, as if it was the first time he’d seen it. Although he knew that it was wrong, of course, he still felt the little jolt of surprise every time he lay eyes on something. Finally, he went to his old room, standing in the door, wandering eyes catching every detail. It looked so tidy, he couldn’t remember it being so organized before. The second he felt sadness for the lack of his stuff, the books he used to read or the calculations he had written on paper, the objects materialized in front of his eyes. Capa wasn’t sure if this was how things worked when he was still alive, but he decided that it wasn’t really important. Although he knew that he was dead, he felt strangely alive and he could remember almost every second he lived on the ship.

Had he ever lived somewhere else than on the Icarus? He wasn’t quiet sure, there was a word circling his thoughts, “earth”. Was this where he came from? Again, he just pushed the thought away, it didn’t seem too essential. He picked up his books, happiness surging through him as he skimmed the pages. For a small eternity he just stood there and read his books and recalculated the numbers. Then he put it all aside and went to see his baby. The payload. Excitement rushed into his veins, and he started walking faster. Unlocking the door, he tried to slower his breath, but it was no use and he felt homesickness like a stone falling into his stomach. He didn’t understand why, because he was here, he was with the thing he loved most, what else would he miss? And he spent another eternity slowly walking through the bomb, touching everything that was within reach, feeling the cool surfaces of metal, hearing his lazy footsteps echoing in the giant hall.

When he had finished his walk, he stood near the entrance to the ship and sighed. Then he exited the bomb and walked around to find another corridor he hadn’t seen the first time. The first room had a bright white box in it. “Earth room”, echoed in Capas head, but the name was gone as fast as it had arrived. It didn’t matter. Slowly, he touched first the table and the swivel chair, then the white box, finding a door where he could enter it. He stared at the walls from the inside and felt a memory moving at the edge of his conscious, but he couldn’t grasp it, so he just left the room. On the way further down the corridor, he could see a green light growing stronger and stronger at the end of it. He stood in front of a glass door, pushing a button to slide it open. There were plants all around him, the air was in movement caused by some big machines. Ventilators. He liked this room, the plants seemed to soothe him, but yet again, there was a thought nagging at the back of his mind and he wasn’t able to shake it off, nor to identify it. Frustrated, he left the room and went back to the coms center, where he sat down in one of the two big leathery seats in front of a big screen and several smaller ones. He looked at the monitors, but couldn’t seem to read any of the symbols written upon them. It was as if he looked through frosted glass, he wasn’t able to focus on it. He wondered why, then one thought popped into his head. “This wasn’t your duty.” But then, whose had it been? He was sure that he had been alone on the ship, however this new possibility had to be considered.

And then it dawned on him and he could remember a lot of fights and blood and the stone in his stomach returned. “Mace”, he said, his voice hoarse, into the silence of the ship.

And then he heard footsteps on the ground and a man entered the coms, with short hair and just the hint of a beard, wearing a dark shirt and cargo shorts. “Capa?”

His voice sounded dark with sadness and it triggered a cascade of memories, memories of the crew, that had been with them, of home, of the endless conflicts he had had with Mace, the arguments, the feeling of his body next to his own… and suddenly, all other thoughts were no longer necessary. He felt as if Mace had been with him the whole time. The other man walked towards him and pulled him out of his chair into a tight hug, quickening the heartbeat of the smaller one. “I am so glad you’re finally here, Capa, I was so afraid you wouldn’t come…”, Mace whispered, and Capa didn’t understand what he meant, because he had been here the whole time, but he didn’t feel like asking, either.

They stood there, hugging each other, feeling the others heartbeat.

And for the rest of all eternities, the two were on the Icarus, often talking, often being silent, but most importantly: being together in the one place they both loved the most – on the Icarus with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Original, thus old, end notes when I first posted this)  
> I listened to the opening of “Lilo & Stitch” a lot recently and it made me so happy and well, I wanted Mace and Capa to be happy, too. Most sunshine-fanfiction is (of course) angsty and / or super sad, but I wanted something different.
> 
> This is not beta’d and I’m sorry if I made some mistakes, i’m no native speaker :S


	2. Mace

Mace could still feel the cold creeping through his body, although he had doubted that he could get any colder. His leg was stuck under the mainframe and his hands refused to pick up the screw wrench again. But the physical pain was only a glimpse of the mental pain he felt. They had failed, HE had failed, not only the mission, but himself and most importantly… „Capa!“, he moaned into the headset lying in front of him. „Capa, do it. Do it!“

Capa was their only hope, he alone was able to activate the bomb. Mace didn’t even know what went wrong, he wasn’t sure he wanted to accept that Pinbacker was still alive after all those years and had decided to destroy them. But then again, why did he even try to understand anything? It didn’t matter anymore. Capa would handle this, he was the only one he ever….

He felt his eyes closing. The pain was so intense, that it filled his entire being and was easy to block out. With a sigh, he breathed out his remaining life.

His eyes snapped open. He was lying in his bed on the Icarus II. Pain and coldness lingered for a few seconds, then faded away like a bad dream in the sunlight. Mace sat up and expected the pain to return, because no matter how careful Capa had been pulling him out of the cooling liquid, he must have suffered severe burns and his leg was broken. But when he could climb out of his bed without any complication and took off his clothes for an assessment of his body, he knew that something wasn’t right. There was no wound on his leg, his hands were fine, too and his skin had the same rosy glow it had always had.

He concluded that he was dead, but why was he still on the ship? Putting his clothes back on, he decided to go look for the rest of he crew. Maybe they too were here?

Mace moved slowly and started looking carefully around every corner before entering a room or a floor. He wasn’t sure why he did this, what did he expect to turn up, Pinbacker?! Snorting to himself, he stopped creeping around like a frightened teenager.

When he had inspected every last room on the ship and hadn’t found anyone, he felt disappointment falling into his stomach like a heavy stone. He hadn’t been the social type, but he didn’t want to be here all on his own, too. Sure, he loved the ship and the bright light and the metal walls sometimes seemed more of a home to him than his house on earth. But Mace started missing the crew and above all, he missed…. wait, what was HE doing in his thoughts? He refused to think about HIM! Well, but now he actually did. Groaning, Mace closed his eyes, leaned his head agains the wall and started punching it violently like he used to punch HIM… Pain shot through his fists and arms and caught him off-guard, he hadn’t expected to be able to feel anything here. But he had to admit that he had no idea where „here“ was, so how should he know the physical laws of this place? Well, Capa surely… Another groan escaped his mouth and he shook his head in defeat. Sighing, he allowed his mind to wander freely and it decided to replay his last memories he had of his living form, the last words he heard from Capa. Mace flinched at the desperation and pain he could hear. Had he made it? Had he been able to start the bomb – the bomb!

Mace stumbled towards the connection between ship and bomb, his movements hastily and his heart beating fast. His excitment was stupid and he knew it, why should Capa be in the payload, he didn’t even know if the bomb was still there. But he had found the oxygen garden, fully alive, so maybe the ship was in its basic state? He had no idea. Mace forced himself to slow down and take a deep breath. Calmed, he stepped around the last corner and stood before the door. Of course it was locked, Capa had always been strict about this. The engineer fumbled with the code, but wasn’t able to figure it out, so he started at 0000 and tried his luck. When the door was finally unlocked, he stared at the pad for a few seconds. The code was his birthday. „Capa, you jerk.“, he whispered hoarsly but couldn’t help smiling. He pushed open the door and his hands were shaking nervously as he entered the payload. Carefully, Mace looked around, went to the little room, where Capa used to watch the tests and then stepped onto the wide field of metal cubes. He wandered around for a long time and then finally deceided that it was stupid running around in the bomb, Capa was not here and he certainly wouldn’t come.

Disappointment and fear overwhelmed him, washing through his body like flood. He had already understood that his feelings were intensified here, they were clear to him like he could see them. But he was still surprised that he had obviously misinterpreted his feelings for the scrawny physicist all the time.

Shaking, he fled from the payload and locked the door, running blindly through the corridors until he stood in front of the earth room. Well, as much as he hated to admit it, it had always helped him to calm down, so he entered the white box and sat down on the ground. Mace closed his eyes and just listened to his own breathing, his own heartbeat and imagined Capa coming in, smiling, like he rarely did on the ship and just sitting down next to him. He would wrap his arm around the small form and pull him closer, to feel his skin and hair and -

He heard footsteps and that little sound scared him more than any other thing ever had. He scrambled to his feet, but the other one was already in front of the door and so he pressed his back against the white walls of the box, his heart hammering and sweat building on his forehead. Someone entered the room, walking slowly through the room, but it didn’t sound like he or she (or it) was on a hunt. Just as he was about to look out of the box, the someone appeared in the doorframe. It was Capa, wide eyed and with ruffled hair.

„Capa? What, how, I mean…“ The words just stumbled out of his mouth, he gaped like an idiot at the other man, realisation only slowly dawning on him. Capa just looked at him and then entered the box, giving the walls a quick glance. Mace shook his head and reached out to touch him. „Capa, you have no idea how happy I am -“ He stopped dead. The physicist made an annoyed face and then turned to leave the earth room, walking down the corridor in the direction of the oxygen garden. It took the startled Mace a few seconds to comprehend what just happened, then he hurried after Capa.

The other man had entered the garden, standing between the heavily laden tables, with his eyes closed and his face tilted up to the ceiling, breathing deeply. Carefully, Mace stepped in behind him. „Capa? I, I am so sorry for everything I ever did and said to you. I mean it. All this time, I totally misunderstood my feelings… I regret hurting you so much. Please, can we… start over? I mean, we’re dead, and it seems like we’re here for some time, so…“ Capa sighed heavily. He opened his eyes and there was this bothered look on his face again. It was quickly replaced with frustration and then he turned around and walked towards Mace, who had no idea how to react. He decided to be defensive and took a short step backwards. Capa showed no signs of emotion, just came closer and closer and -

Mace’ breath hitched when Capas face was an inch from his, he raised his arms and Capa walked straight through him. The engineer screamed and tumbled sideways, this was nothing he had anticipated. Horrified, he sunk to the ground and stared after the other man, who was walking through the corridor as if nothing had happened. And Mace understood that he was able to see him, but Capa had no idea he was here. Or, maybe Mace was not really there…? He shook his head to clear his mind, he was no philosopher and he wouldn’t start that now. Groaning, he hid his face in his hands. What if Capa was never going to notice him? What if this was some kind of punishment for his sins? Mace thought of all the hate and resentment he had felt in his life, all the fights he had been in. And of course everything he did to Capa, hurting him, knowing that he was physically stronger. How Capas very presence had gotten on his nerves, how Mace had always been in a crouch, ready to spring to the next fight. In hindsight, the engineer had no idea why he hadn’t noticed what he’d really felt. And now, after he finally realised what he wanted, he wasn’t able to interact with Capa. This was surely his own personal hell.

Just as he was ready to drown in frustration and self-pity, he heard his name. It was Capas voice, coming from farther across the ship, maybe the comms. He stood up and hurried down the corridor. „Capa?“ He entered the Comms and saw him sitting in one of the chairs in front of the monitors he and Cassie used to sit in. Mace just looked at Capa and he felt him looking back this time. He could practically see the memories streaming behind Capas eyes; his damn blue eyes, how much he loved them. Crossing the room in two strides, he stopped in front of the physicist and pulled him up in a hug, pressing Capas small form against his broad chest. “I am so glad you’re finally here, Capa, I was so afraid you wouldn’t come…”, whispered Mace into the long dark hair. He could feel the others heartbeat quicken.

They stood there for a long time, not saying anything, just enjoying each others presence.

And for the rest of all eternities, the two were on the Icarus, often talking, often being silent, but most importantly: being together in the one place they both loved the most – on the Icarus with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Original, thus old, end note when I first uploaded it)  
> Again, this is not beta’d and I really hope I didn’t do anything stupid *lol* So, yes, the ending is practically the same, but I wanted to have this feeling of belonging together ^^


End file.
